English Toffee is a classic holiday candy that’s buttery, nutty, and rich thanks to a combination of almonds, walnuts, and milk chocolate. Make it in a brownie bite pan to get the cutest toffee bites—perfect for gifting!
I love making candy every holiday to give as gifts and serve to guests. If you’re new to candy, start with our easy rocky road fudge, homemade turtles, and peanut butter cups.
Why You’ll Love This English Toffee Recipe
Thanks to one of my besties RHONDA (hey girl!), who shared this awesome English toffee recipe with me years ago. It became a tradition for us to have a holiday candy-making day with our oldest daughters, Natasha (on the left) and my daughter Alyssa (on right).
We usually gave the girls the job of rolling Peanut Butter Buckeyes and wrapping homemade caramels…you know, the “chores”!
Here’s what makes this English toffee one of my favorites:
- English toffee is typically made in an 11×7 pan, but a few years ago I found a silicone brownie bite pan and it’s all I use now. No more slicing toffee, just pop the toffee bites out and you’re good to go—easy, neat, perfectly portioned pieces!
- If you like Heath Bars, this homemade English toffee is like that, but so much better than store-bought. It’s rich, buttery, and much more nutty.
- Not everyone is a baker! If you struggle to get your Christmas cookies looking just right, switch to candy—it’s a lot easier to make, with fewer details to manage. No more struggling with icing or cookie cutters!
Important Ingredient Notes
- Unsalted butter – There are three dominant flavors in English toffee: butter, nuts, and chocolate. Spring for a good butter!
- Margarine – You may say, “CAN I USE ALL BUTTER?” The answer is yes. However, I find I get reliable results, with no separation of butter and sugar, when I use half margarine. The flavor is still amazing!
- Kosher salt – Salt is important for adding balance to this recipe. If you’d like, you can also sprinkle flaky sea salt on top of the melted chocolate.
- Vanilla extract – Aside from the butter, toffee is also vanilla flavored. Use a high-quality pure vanilla, not imitation. Our homemade vanilla would be perfect.
- Milk chocolate – Again, high-quality is important here!
- Nuts – You’ll need both unblanched whole almonds and finely ground walnuts.
How to Make Homemade English Toffee
Prep the Almonds: On a foil lined baking dish or in a silicone brownie bite pan, arrange the almonds in a single layer.
Make the Toffee Mixture:
- In a heavy pan, combine the butter, margarine, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Cook over medium-high heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the butter melts. Bring mixture to a rolling boil.
- Continue boiling and stirring for an additional 5-7 minutes, or until the candy turns the color of almonds (or reaches about 300 degrees, if you have a candy thermometer).
- Pour the toffee mixture over the almonds. (If you’re using the brownie bite pan, I use a small metal scoop to get toffee into each bite, working quickly!)
- Cool completely.
Finish: Spread the melted chocolate over top of the cooled toffee, then sprinkle with the ground walnuts. Once the chocolate sets, remove from the brownie pan or cut the English toffee into pieces.
Recipe FAQs
Using thin lined saucepans can cause butter to separate. A heavy bottomed saucepan can manage the heat better. The second reason may be from heating the butter and margarine too quickly. Keep the pan over medium to medium-high heat. Don’t crank the heat up for the sake of bringing it to a boil faster.
The reason I like to use half butter and half margarine when I make English Toffee is that I find I get more reliable results, without any separation of the butter and sugar. The flavor is still amazing! You can use all butter if you prefer.
This is most likely due to excess butter on the toffee surface. Before adding your chocolate, be sure to wipe the top of your toffee with a dry paper towel to absorb any excess butter.
If it still feels a little “greasy”, sprinkle a small amount of cocoa powder or crushed nuts to the top before adding your chocolate. This should help!
More Holiday treats
- Chocolate Peppermint Graham Crackers
- Peppermint Meringues
- Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
- Peanut Butter Fudge
- Peppermint Bark
- Churro Toffee
- Divinity Candy
- Christmas Crack
- Sugar Cookies – perfect no-spread cut out cookies
Holiday Candy Recipes
See all Candy recipes
English Toffee
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup margarine
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 ounce milk chocolate melted
- 1 cup unblanched whole almonds
- 1 cup finely ground walnuts
Instructions
- On a foil lined baking dish (11×7)- or in a silicone brownie bite pan (with 24 bites)- arrange almonds in a single layer. Set aside.
- In a heavy pan, combine butter, margarine, sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Cook over medium-high heat with a wooden spoon until butter melts, stirring constantly. (REALLY STIRRING CONSTANTLY)! Bring mixture to a rolling boil.
- Continue boiling (AND STIRRING) an additional 5-7 minutes until candy turns the color of almonds (about 300 degrees). Pour over almonds. If using the brownie bite pan, I use a small metal scoop to get toffee into each bite, working quickly!
- Cool completely.
- When candy is cooled and set (about 2 hours), spread chocolate over top of toffee. Sprinkle generously with ground walnuts. If doing both sides, use only half of the chocolate and walnuts. Allow top to set before flipping over and doing bottom. When set, pop out of silicone pan and store in a airtight containers. OR cut into pieces. ENJOY!
Notes
- Tip- when I say stirring, I’m talking taking that wooding spoon and whipping it! haha!! I have an electric stovetop and turn my heat on 7…and it remains on 7 through the entire boiling process.
- If you choose to scoop into brownie bite pan vs. pouring into a baking pan, your butter might separate a little bit by the time you get to the 20th scoop! Don’t worry about it. I use my scooper to slightly stir as I take a scoop of toffee.
- Many will ask WHY DOES MY BUTTER SEPARATE? This can be from using cheaper, thinner lined saucepans. It could be from heating the butter and margarine too quickly.
- You may say, “CAN I USE ALL BUTTER?” The answer is yes. However, I find I get reliable results, with no separation of butter and sugar, when I use half margarine. The flavor is still amazing!
- If you’d like, you can add the chocolate and walnuts to both sides of the toffee. To do it this way, use only half of the chocolate and walnuts for the first side. Allow the top to set before flipping over and doing bottom.
- Oh, and breaking English toffee into pieces will leave you some shards on your cutting board. SAVE THESE. They are delicious on vanilla ice cream.
- See blog post for more recipe tips and tricks.
Hi Amy-I have to tell you after reading some of the comments on these, I was a little hesitant to try them, but I forged ahead. I ordered 2 of the silicone pans on Amazon last night, but could not wait to get them to try these. I had a set of 12 standard silicone muffin liners, and thought I would try the recipe with these. It was SO easy and everything came out beautifully. I just put about 1/4 inch of mixture in each liner. After cooling, they just popped out. I had a little mixture left over, so just put it on to a silicone pan. They are SCRUMPTIOUS!! I followed the recipe exactly, using a candy thermometer to 300 degrees and used a silicone spatula to constantly mix it. I will have to try this on my old high school friends, because a few years ago I had some toffee at a get-together for them. I did not want to serve it because I had done something wrong and it was too chewy and stuck to your teeth. The girls said to serve it anyway, and all of a sudden one girl came up to me and said she was going to have to leave because one of her false front teeth had come out while she was eating it. I was trying to act concerned, but hon estly I was dying laughing on the inside. Well, thanks to your recipe, this won’t ever happen again. Yours was the same consistency as some I used to buy in a fine candy shop. Thanks for the recipe, and have yourself “A Merry Little Christmas”!
Hi there! So, I just made these… Actually not even done yet…. My question (or concern) is as I wiped off some of the drizzle off the sides of the brownie bite pan and tasted it, it seemed as though I could feel/taste the sugar crystals? Like they hadn’t fully dissolved? But holy cow, I whipped that stuff on 7 for the length of time you said! It tasted delicious. I guess I have to see when it is all finished, but wondering if you had any insight! (my first time making candy)
Question, can I just use a dark costing mini muffin tin? Or what about using the little liners? Looking forward to making this.
I’ve made 4 batches and not one came out right. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong? The toffee will not harden at all. So I started over and cooked it longer and it just turned into a foam mixture any tips?
If the toffee is not hardening, it’s not cooking long enough. It literally will go from light butter colored to light brown (almond colored) in seconds. Once it turns, you need to remove from heat. While it’s cooking and getting to the right temperature, it will be foaming.
Marissa, when I made mine it started to turn foamy as well but I kept stirring because my candy thermometer said it was not at 300 yet, it will kind of thicken and foam then change color before it is completely done.
Just made this toffee for the first time and it turned out wonderfully. I would only change one thing instead of whole almonds I would use chopped coarsely.
I am so excited to try these! I even went and bought the pan from Michaels. I am so OCD when it comes to making my candy for the holidays!! Why did I never think to use that adorable pan???
I made this today and loved it! It tastes so good and was really easy. I gave some of my batch to my friend who has been having a bad week and she absolutely loved it too. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Grrrrrr mine separated before it turned brown. Not sure what happened
Do you mean the butter separated a little bit? Mine did too. Just give it a good stir and pour the mixture into a pan and the butter goes back into the rest of the mixture.
These look amazing! And I love the helpful tip on the brownie-bite pan. I have been nervous to use silicone, but I think I am finally going to have to cave! I hope you don’t mind, but I shared this on my FB page at
https://www.facebook.com/EasyFreeSantaLetters
Oh man! This sounds easy and fun! I need to find some of these brownie trays you speak of..
So, when you say cool completely, do you mean in the fridge or room temperature?
Either way is fine!!
What an awesome idea to use your brownie bite pan! These look fantastic!!!
Do you think I can use margarine instead of butter?
what type of salt is used,can any salt be used
I asked this question on her Facebook post, this was her reply: Shugary Sweets kosher salt is not as fine as regular salt, so I would use about half the amount listed in the recipe.
Hope that helps! 🙂
Oops sorry I meant but*
This might sound silly nutty if the toffee is completely cooled, how does the chocolate layer melt?
you melt the chocolate first before spreading it on.
I’ve never used kosher salt before. What is it, exactly, and where do I get it. Can I substitute regular table salt for the kosher salt? These look heavenly!
Renee
you can get kosher salt at the grocery store (right next to the table salt). It’s coarser and I love using it.
O.M.G. This looks AMAZING. I make toffee every year for the holidays, but I’ve never made it in a brownie bites pan. What a fantastic idea! They look professional like that! Darn it, now I want to go make this right now… 🙂
Thanks Jenn! It definitely makes them look more presentable. The down side is, when I used to cut the big pan of toffee, little bits would crack off. We saved those for ice cream toppings 🙂
I’ve never used kosher salt before. What is it, exactly, and where do I get it. Can I substitute regular table salt for the kosher salt? These look heavenly!
Renee
are the almonds optional? because im allergic to almonds. or if there is anything i can use to replace them, it would be good to know 🙂
I read a comment above where the baker left out the almonds and the walnuts, and they turned out great! Good luck!